Thanks to both Trey and Dorisma, we all made it to the blacksmith safe and sound. He looked at me as if we were late, or something, and he growled before handing me all the weapons we needed. I handed Miles the throwing dagger, I handed Trey the wand, I handed Backstabs the normal dagger, and I kept the rapier. The weapons were certainly made of metal, yet, they had a green coloring on them for whatever reason. I looked at the weapon's coloring with a confused look, and the blacksmith answered with two words "Dragon steel,". It still didn't exactly explain it... did the dragons enchant the steel, did they just color it, or did they just use different materials to make the steel? Regardless of my confusion, I just nodded, and headed out, my new weapon already put away, at least until we get to the dust, and hopefully, don't get infected by it. The princess seemed oddly excited to leave as I finally make my way out of the city, and start heading towards the grey dust. I, of course, made sure that my team was behind me the entire time. I looked around, and saw nothing but desert, and the city we came from. There were a couple cacti nearby, one of which had a vulture perched on it for whatever reason, but other than that, it was just sand, mountains, and the city. I almost started to wander off to where I thought the grey dust might be, and then it hit me... I had no idea where it was. I then asked "Hey... does anyone happen to remember where the grey dust is, or was?" which caused the princess to start writing some notes in a notepad of sorts. I honestly didn't care what she did so long as she wasn't complaining to and about our group.

Dorisma shook her head silently. Was he actually this useless with directions? How had he made it this far without walking off a cliff? Regardless Dorisma at the very least knew that all they had to do was backtrack to the village, then go back into the forest which was probably thoroughly infested with the gray dust by now. They should really have a cool name for it. Like the Infection or something. She might start using that now. "Me." Dorisma said roughly and began heading back the way they had come. Who knows, they might run into some humans along the way. Perhaps they could shove the princess off on them, if she didn't vanish beforehand like she had a tendency of doing.

The dragon steel was a greenish colour, which Trey assumed was due to the fact that they used different materials to make it. After briefly inspecting it, he stuffed the new wand into his robes. He was eager to try it out on whatever undead were waiting for them in the grey dust, or anything that they might run into on the way there.

Dorisma led the group out into the desert, and unfortunately the princess tried to tag along as well. Trey soared above them, keeping an eye on the horizon for any signs of the dust. "So, once we get there, we'll want to figure out how fast this stuff spreads." He called down to the group. "I mean, we have no idea, really. For all we know, it could have long since taken over the forest."

Deravan sighed as he then fallowed Dorisma, staying quiet as he fallowed. He though about it. That grey dust thing... If they had to fight creatures like those back then, where only fire really affected them, then he might end up having trouble. Unless his blade itself was able to actually do some damage, which he hoped it could. And thinking about it, a katana like this... It just felt right for him. It felt like it would be the right weapon for him to use instead of 2 daggers like he usually used. Why though? He had no idea. Well, it was no use thinking about it right now. He had some work to do right now.
"I hope it dosen't spread that fast, or else we might have a serious issue. We really will need to hope there is a cure and that we can actually apply it everywhere." he then says.

Dorsiam's face looked oddly red as we all stumbled out of the doors of the inn, and began walking in the general direction of the blacksmith. We had to avoid a couple of rowdy locals (namely Drakes demanding you to buy their stuff and dragons intimidating the newer migrants) and even ignored a pair of Kobold exchanging spats and insults towards mothers at each other. As Robert put it, we made it to the blacksmith, the place looking somehow more rustic than yesterday. Silence and footsteps from our party were the only things to hear, until we stepped inside the blacksmith and watched the dragon finishing a brief meal. He seemed to eye us before handing a bag that seemed to point everywhere like he concealed a Morning Star inside. Robert got hold of it and began fishing out various items that the dragon had created, handing over a wand to Trey and a couple of knives to both myself and Backstabs. I turned the knife around in my hands, noting how it was somewhat crude (good weapons often take days to make, and we just got back after a night) and rough around the edges. Still, it seemed to handle better than my newer knives, and I slipped it into one of my coat's pockets. Namely the one in which I held all my weapons. The thing felt smoother than my normal knives somehow, and the green seemed to indicate it was somehow aged. "Yeah, thanks Robert. Thanks Mr Smith." I didn't know his name, I just knew that most people got their surnames from the jobs they worked, i.e. Baker. I was only trying to be polite, thanking the blacksmith and leaving his ash-filled coven. That place made the outside air seem fresher, somehow.

We walked a while uneventfully, exiting the city and getting to where Dorisma and I had last been to find that dragon's egg. Yellow dust (thankfully) blew in the air and dry shrubs were littered around pebbles, scattered around the dry and dead landscape. Seemed as if the grey dust was in fact an analogy for the Earth's environment, but I wasn't prepared to think that deeply. Eventually we stopped walking and stood like we had no clue as to what we were doing. "Robert, it would be nice if we carried around a map and knew how to read a compass." I said, somewhat annoyed at the fact we were in the middle of nowhere with only a few indications as to where we were. "How we're going to stop something that spreads across the land like a giant flood, with no clues and without even contributing to navigation... we really should've asked for extra help in the stronghold, right?"

I was about to agree with Miles, and head back into the stronghold when, out of nowhere, Dorisma said that she knew the way to the grey dust. "Well... there we go, just, um, follow her," I point out as I do exactly that, the desert air feeling nice and warm... even if exceedingly dry for someone who's used to life near the ocean. That previous thought reminded me of just how thirsty I was, so, of course, I took a drink from my recently refilled water container, but as I did, I noticed something off to my left move. I looked over there, and only saw a cactus... a common plant in these drier areas, but I could have sworn it wasn't there, before. I passed it off as the heat getting to me, but then I saw it move again, and then again. "I hope I'm not the only one seeing this," I think out loud, pointing out the moving cactus, which seems to be approaching the group. The thing then jumps at me, but, thankfully, I manage to get out of the way. The moment after I jumped back, some sort of golem, apparently made of sandstone, rises from the ground. "Well, this is new," I comment, wondering where these things were when we were trying to get here, and why they didn't attack if they were around here. Backstabs and I were both shocked by the fact that these things literally just appeared out of thin air, or were perfectly disguised. The desert really IS dangerous... if stuff like this can just pop up out of the ground, then how the heck did dragons, let alone drakes and humans live here!? I thought as I fumbled around for my weapon, wondering if it will actually work on these things.

Deravan was moving forwards when they got to the desert. The heat was not really his friend here. Why did they have to be in a desert for crying out loud. He moved forwards until his eyes adjusted and saw something move in the ground. The thing suddenly jumped at Robert. A living cactus? He must have been seeing thing. He frowned as she quickly moved with his katana, and moved to the creature at a blinding speed. Not taking any chances, he quickly strikes the cactus hard right at it's head. The thing seemed to be a large scream as the blade plunges at the left side of it's head, dealing quite some damage. Deravan then remove his blade, looking surprised at the strike he just did.
"Dang.... that blade really packs quite a hit!" he says as suddenly the cactus used some kind of magic on him. It seemed to be a large blast of... water? Deravan quickly moved, as the blast actually made the cactus miss from the force, making it push back from the side a bit. Probably cause of the strike Deravan inflicted on the thing. Deravan then fumbled onto the ground, having barely dodged it still.
"Woah... that was close..." he says as he then gets back into battle position.

Dorisma followed up with knowing how to get back to the infection, with Robert being somewhat flabbergasted as we started to follow. I myself was shocked at the prospect of tackling the dust by ourselves, as if we were big damn heroes or something. Ultimately, I didn't question it, and we couldn't really hire/convince others to come with us.

As we walked, I realised just how hot the desert was, feeling like there was a relaxing sauna under my fur-lined coat, which seemed to have a couple more scratches than usual. I would imagine if anyone else was going to wear it, they would be absolutely drenched and parched with sweat.

Said warmth wasn't going to put my guard down though. I flicked a knife at the glint at the corner of my eye, using one of the newer dragonsteel knives. Apparently I let my guard down anyway, noticing a second later Deravan's struggle and slicing at... a cactus? Well, there are stranger things in this world, I guess. That thing let off a ear-piercing scream, and that was BEFORE Deravan had penetrated the thing - my knife followed through, leaving that familiar trail of green that smashed the air and embedded itself in the cactus' chest, before reappearing in my outstretched palm. Seemed as if it wasn't a property of the dragonsteel as the cactus was forced a metre back of so, not before being surrounded in a small circle of fire. "Alright, I didn't expect something to be there, let alone hit it!"

Trey heard what sounded like fighting coming from down below, and sure enough, the group was being attacked by a living cactus and what appeared to be a sandstone golem. He took out his new wand, and dove down to help them out. He was about to just use a Fire spell, like he usually did, but he had a feeling that he could take it a step further. Fira hadn't worked every other time he'd tried it in the past, but he decided to trust his instincts.

The cactus was engulfed in flames, and by the time they died down, there was nothing left but a burnt husk. Not only was the Fira spell successful, but it seemed like it was also boosted by the dragon steel wand, somehow. He felt a little worn out afterwards, though. He made a mental note to only use Fira when he absolutely needs to, since using it too much would just be a waste of energy.

The group already finished off the weird, moving cactus, and Backstabs started attacking the weird golem thing, however... the thing seemed to be fast, somehow, and jumped out of the way of her dagger's swing. It then tried to attack me, but I had my wits together at this point, and managed to dodge the thing's fist. I tried to stab at the thing's arm, but it moved out of the way just in time. "How can this thing dodge? It's made out of rocks!" I said to my team in frustration as the thing started to back away, as if expecting another attack. It seemed faster than backstabs, let alone me, and I didn't know if it had a usual golem's near-impenetrable defenses, or if that was its flaw... that it could dodge attacks, but once it started taking them, it was done for. It looked strong, but, again, it was a golem, at this point, I was just assuming everything about this odd construction, applying what I knew about others of its kind. That attack was actually pretty fast... maybe I was just lucky to dodge that thing... I thought as it seemed to scan the rest of my teammates, which included everyone here except for the princess, and the golem, itself. I then wondered where the heck she was right now, just out of curiosity, and I found her... writing in some sort of journal, or diary? Well... that's weird. Is she spying on us, and sending information about our strengths and weaknesses to some group of humans? I guess, if she was, and she really hated us as much as her 'speeches' would indicate, she would have killed us, knowing that she's invincible, heck, not even that, she hasn't attacked us yet... the more I thought about that subject, the less sense it seemed to make, and, as such, I focused more on the fight after that confusing thought.

Dorisma quickly lumbered towards the sand giant and aggressively took two swiping swings at the rock construction, but found to her disconcertion that the thing proved quite apt at dodging, avoiding both of her blows as easily as it had the previous two. The only bright side was that she was now the closest to it so in order for it to attack anyone else it would have to pass her, allowing to take another swing at it as punishment for trying to bypass her. At least the cactus had been fried by Trey, maybe they could eat it after they turned this nasty golem into dust.

Deravan saw the thing dodge every attack at an insane speed. How the heck was a golem so good at dodging anyway? He moved quickly, trying to get behind him. Unfortunately, when Deravan attacked, the golem quickly dodge the attack. This was not going to be easy at all, that is for sure. He hoped that some people in the group would be able to take that thing down soon, cause if it kept dodging like that, then the group would tire out before they can even hit this dang golem.
"Let's keep trying to hit him... he can't dodge forever." he says

It was now just the golem and most of our group (excluding the princess), with Backstabs attempting some sort of complex back-handed manoeuvre. The thing ducked out of the way of the attack with piles of rocks clattering, swiftly spinning away from Robert's own attempts to harm it. Dorisma couldn't get a mark on it either, as it side-stepped several times with no indications as to what it was trying to do, aside from pure dodging. I personally flicked a knife in its general direction, convinced that I could somehow calculate where it was going to be. Instead, I was several meters off, my knife pinging off some rocks before phasing out of the air, and reappearing in the grip of my palm. "Damn, it's making a mockery of us!" I scowled, shocked at the fact a golem was probably doing parkour before we were even born. And unfortunately, I was convinced that the thing was going to prepare some sort of strike against us, or at least one of us - and it would hurt.

Trey could tell that this golem was going to be a problem. Since it was made of stone, it was probably very durable, and on top of that, it was agile enough to avoid all of the group's attacks. Trey swooped down and used a Fire spell while it was still focused on his teammates. For a moment, it looked like it was about to hit it, but at the last second, the golem jumped to the side. At this point, Trey was feeling pretty worn out. He could probably manage one more Fire spell, but after that he'd have to find another way of attacking.

Backstabs stayed back for a little bit, and observed the golem as it dodged everyone else's attacks, and, eventually, she attacked, and somehow, the thing basically ran into her dagger. It seemed to do a lot, but... the fire that coated her dagger didn't even so much as leave a burn mark on the thing. Was this thing somehow immune to fire? I thought as the thing managed to punch me right in the face. Reeling from that attack, I stabbed something with my rapier, which somehow turned out to be not only the golem, but its core. It tried to distance itself from me after that, and when I finally got my thoughts together again, I noticed that the thing was damaged, and trying to get away from us. "Should we run after it, or just leave it be?" I asked my team, more than ready to finish this thing off for what it did to me. "I'm feeling pretty lucky... let's try to finish it off!" Backstabs responded, with the princess just giggling for some reason... I didn't know or care why she was, but then it hit me... if we chase after it, we'd be no better than the countless adventurers who depopulate entire villages, would we? Well... we would, but that would certainly start us down that slippery slope. Why was it scared of us? Was it because we easily defeated its friend, and just now started hitting it, as well? Was it so confident in its dodging abilities that it didn't think about its actual defensive capabilities? I then recalled how easily Backstabs' knife went through it... for something made of stone, it really wasn't all that tough, was it?

Deravan saw that finally Robert and Backstab hit the golem, and smiled. Finally.... they would be able to hit that dang thing. He then noticed how the golem was going to run right now to flee. God... he attacked the group, and now think he can get away that easy.
"Where you think your going!? Your the one that attacked us!" he says as he then rush and slash at the beast, and actually hit him... quite a bit to say the least. Not exactly at the core like Robert seem to have done, but still did quite some damage. Deravan did hear the princess giggling.... Why was she so happy... Those things actually attacked the group first. Deravan was faster to move then them though. He just hoped that the group could take down the thing.... or if the thing runs away... have had enough damage to make it never attack anyone ever again.

Dorisma growled and ran after the golem, ignoring everything else and grabbing the golem bodily by the leg. However to her surprise not only was the golem adept at dodging, it also was very strong, able to throw her off with little apparent effort. Dorisma let out a grunt of surprise and anger as she rolled along the ground.

By the time I figured out that the golem was retreating, I was already out of breath and holding my knees. "Damn it... I'm n-not usually this tired." When I was a Kobold, I was able to outrun the bigger guards and side-step into corners easily. Now, even though I could probably sew fabric with my hands, I could barely run or do anything with my legs. I was exhausted easily now, something I feel rather embarrassed about.

"Alright, just..." Robert asked a bunch of questions (or one, I couldn't really tell) as the golem was trying to retreat, making sounds similar to laying pots firmly against the ground. Except sped up by a factor of two. I brushed away dust from my coat and rubbed my forehead, unsure whether or not pursuit was even worth it. I mean, we did want revenge more or less, but it wasn't as if I could catch up to the thing. Deraven and Dorisma continued on while Robert and a bunch of others hung behind (for now), while I just started inspecting my knives. "I can't run for crap now. You think I'll be able to get that golem from here?" I asked the others, looking at them before returning my eyes to my new knives.

The golem endured a few attacks, and then, as if it suddenly realized how strong they were, it stopped attacking, and attempted to flee. Trey saw no reason to waste his energy chasing it, especially when it no longer posed any sort of threat to them. Deravan and Dorisma, on the other hand, felt the need to finish it off before it escaped, but considering how agile it was, that may be more difficult than they think.

While Deravan and Dorisma wanted to chase the thing down, and did, it seems as if the majority, myself included, wanted to just continue on. "Come on, you two, we have work to do, anyways," I said to the two of them who tried, and failed to so much as slow the thing down... by now, it had quite a lead on them, and chasing it down probably wasn't worth it at this point, anyways. I tried to head in the direction that Dorisma showed me, but somehow ended up back at the entrance to the dragon stronghold. "Back already?" one of the guard dragons asked me. "Uh... not quite. I think I'm lost, again," I responded before finding my group again. I then realized that I had no real way of knowing where to go if Dorisma wasn't with me, so, I decided to shout "Hey, Dorisma, where the heck was that dust, anyways!?" I only shouted because she was some distance away from the group, and me, as well as the thought that shouting at her might make her stop trying to chase down the golem. It didn't seem like we were fighting for very long, but, somehow, it was already getting late. Not late enough that I'd consider camping out here, especially given that this is a desert, but, late enough that I should probably be putting more effort into coaxing the rest of my team to actually lead me to the dust. The princess seemed to be writing down more notes, for some reason or another, but, as long as she wasn't insulting us, or otherwise running her mouth, I didn't care.